Bombs strike disputed northern Iraq, kill 8

— Bombings rattled two cities in disputed areas in Iraq’s north Sunday, killing at least eight people and raising concerns that extremists are trying to exploit ethnic tensions in the country.

The deadliest series of blasts struck Shiite Muslim targets in the disputed northern city of Kirkuk. Police Major Imad Qadir, who is responsible for the Kirkuk city hospital’s security, said those attacks killed six people and wounded 36.

Kirkuk is 180 miles north of Baghdad and is home to a mix of Arabs, Kurds and Turkomen. Each of the ethnic groups has competing claims to the oilrich area. The Kurds want to incorporate it into their selfruled region in Iraq’s north, but Arabs and Turkomen are opposed.

The city is at the center of a broader dispute between Iraq’s central government and the Kurdish minority over contested areas where both seek influence. Tension between Kurds and the central government has flared in recent months.

Kirkuk Police Brig. Turhan Khalil said the evening blasts happened within minutes of each other. The targets included two Shiite mosques and a television station identified with the Muslim sect, he said.

Himdad Ali, 36, a car repair shop employee, said he was watching TV when explosions rocked the nearby Imam Ali mosque, one of the targeted holy sites.

“People were panicking, and the whole area was in total darkness because the electricity was cut,” he said. “Today’s explosions showed to us that we shouldn’t even dream of peace in this country.”

There was no immediateclaim of responsibility. Bombings targeting Shiite sites are typically the work of Sunni Arab extremists.

Earlier in the day, an explosion near the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan political party office in Jalula killed two and wounded five, police officials said. Jalula is also in the disputed territories and is some 80 miles northeast of Baghdad.

Both Arabs and Kurds claim Jalula, and a local policeman said the violence resulted from ongoing tensions between the two ethnic groups. He did not elaborate.

Medics in nearby hospital confirmed the Jalula casualties.All officials in the two spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release details to journalists.

The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan is headed by the Iraqi president Jalal Talabani, who announced a plan last week aimed at easing the military standoff between the central government and Kurdish authorities.

Elsewhere on Sunday, Britain’s Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service ruled that a former British army doctor failed to protect detainees and acted dishonestly after the death of an Iraqi civilian beaten and killed in the custody of U.K. troops in 2003.

Baha Mousa died while in custody at a British base after being detained in a raid in Basra, Iraq, in September 2003. He had sustained 93 injuries, including fractured ribs and a broken nose. Britain’s defense authorities later apologized for the mistreatment of Mousa and nine other Iraqis and paid a $4.9 million settlement. Six soldiers were cleared of wrongdoing at a court-martial, while another pleaded guilty and served ayear in jail.

Derek Keilloh, the senior medic on duty who treated Mousa, had denied knowledge of Mousa’s injuries, claiming that he had only spotted driedblood around Mousa’s nose after he was arrested and beaten.

The tribunal ruled that Keilloh knew of the injuries and failed to adequately examine Mousa’s body. It said he then failed to assess other detainees or protect them from further mistreatment and inform senior officers of what was going on. The tribunal will now decide if Keilloh’s behavior amounts to misconduct and if so, what penalty he will face.

Information for this article was contributed by Sameer N. Yacoub and staff members of The Associated Press.

Front Section, Pages 3 on 12/17/2012

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